"Hombres Audaces" started being published by Editorial Molino in Spain in 1936 and stopped a few months later because of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Molino then moved to Argentina and continued publishing from 1936 until 1953, as Editorial Molino Argentina, for a total of 373 issues. They resumed publishing in Spain in 1941, and some titles exist in both editions with different covers. Hombres Audaces reprinted The Shadow (La Sombra), Doc Savage, Bill Barnes, Pete Rice and The Avenger, mostly with the original covers.

The collection has two numberings, a general one (from #1 to #373) and a
separate one for each character. Some issues of the Argentinian edition were never published in Spain, but Molino kept
the Argentinian numbering on the spine of the issues published in Spain.

Overall,
the pulps were not published in chronological order, many issues being
skipped (probably due to censorship problems) and others switched
around. For Bill Barnes, character and airplane names were changed, paragraphs skipped and others inserted in order to adapt the plot to its random publishing order.

This is not an easy item to find. The Shadow is featured in January, right up front, which is nice. Blue Coal sponsored The Shadow radio show from 1931 to 1949, and I know they made other calendars. I wonder if they also feature The Shadow? I know that the 1943 one does not. So far, the only calendar I could find was this one, which is complete but extremely damaged around the edges. Oddly, the center part, with the various sheets for the months, is in very good condition. Why would anyone cut up various bits and pieces around the edge? Probably only The Shadow would know...

"Since Arthur Conan Doyle published the first adventure of Sherlock Holmes, "A Study in Scarlet" in November 1887, the public demonstrated enormous enthusiasm, demanding the immediate publication of new adventures of what would become the greatest detective of all time. Conan Doyle would even become Sir Arthur. Faced with the growing success of the character, a Berlin publisher decided to create a series of magazines offering the apocryphal adventures of Sherlock Holmes and the first issue was published January 16, 1907. At this point, the real Sherlock Holmes was the subject of three novels, thirty six short stories and two theatre plays, but the German publisher, ignoring all the (early) copyright laws, published these new adventures without the least permission, written very quickly by some German hacks, but beautifully illustrated by Alfred Roloff. Nevertheless, a sizeable change appeared in the stories: Doctor watson was replaced by a young pupil, Harry Taxon. On October 15 of the same year the French publisher Fernand Laven would publish in France the first installment of "Les Dossiers Secrets de Sherlock Holmes" (The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes)."

-- in "Les Maitres du Mystère - De Nick Carter à

Sherlock Holmes, 1907-1914", by Philippe Mellot

In France, the publishers of Sherlock Holmes reacted very quickly and demanded that publication would cease. They only managed to prevent the name "Sherlock Holmes" from appearing on the cover. The first three issues, already printed, were recalled and the covers changed, becoming "Les Dossiers Secrets du Roi des Détectives" (The Secret Files of the King of Detectives). The German copyright holders took a bit longer and the series would go on to have 230 issues, with the name changed from issue 10 on. In spite of the title changes, the famous detective was easily recognizable (he was still called Sherlock Holmes inside) and the series would be translated into numerous languages. We know of Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Turquish and Russian editions.

These issues are from the Portuguese edition, by "A Novella Popular", and are titled "Aventuras Extraordinarias d'um Policia Secreta" (The Extraordinary Adventures of a Secret Policeman), #6 dated April 1st 1909, #15 dated August 10th of the same year, #18 is undated and #105 is dated June 11th, 1911. We seem to have played it safe and the Sherlock Holmes name is not on the cover...

Midgetoy, a Rockford, Il. company, started producing these dime store 3 1/2 inch diecast wonders in 1947. This example has no cut windows on the front, and I've seen examples of the spaceship with open windows produced in 1954. They came in three colors, red, blue and silver. You can find more information on Midgetoy here.